Sorghum for ethanol...goodbye sugarcane

The Philippines may be able to produce its first commercial scale sweet sorghum-based ethanol as the Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC) is in exploratory talks to establish a 1,000-hectare sweet sorghum plantation in Negros Occidental.
   A foreseen milestone not only in the Philippines but globally, the sweet sorghum production will require P45-P75 million investment at a P30,000-50,000 per hectare production cost.  The cane will be used to produce sweet sorghum syrup for ethanol production at the San Carlos Bioenergy Inc.'s (SCBI) plant in San Carlos City in Negros Occidental.
   At a yield of 2,500 liters per hectare, 1,000 hectares can produce as much as 2.5 million liters of ethanol per year.
   The likelihood of PNOC’s supporting the plantation program anchors on the fact that sweet sorghum is very competitive as bioethanol feedstock as studied by UPLB and Mariano Marcos State University ((MMSU) team, according to Prof. Rex B. Demafelis, University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) Alternative Energy Research, Development, and Extension (RDE) Convenor and Chairman of UPLB Energy Systems Committee.

   This commercial production is expected to come after several years of agronomic research and inter-agency coordination funded by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).
   “It was my TOR ((terms of reference) with BAR Director (Nicomedes) Eleazar to facilitate the mainstreaming of sweet sorghum as a complementary feedstock for bioethanol, said Prof. Demafelis.
   Furthermore, Prof. Demafelis emphasized the need for PNOC-AFC to conduct first a feasibility study (FS) to validate previous studies done and the site specificity analysis before any engagement is made. All these requires PNOC-AFC’s board approval and that of the PNOC mother board . He is confident that before the end of next year, a feasibility study will be done.  
Given an FS that proves economic viability for the plantation, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) may subsequently be signed. The MOA will be between PNOC-AFC and SCBI.
   When realized, the plantation will generate jobs either in an available upland in San Carlos City or or in adjacent municipalities.
   “The challenge to farmers is to plant sweet sorghum as against sugarcane.  This is a perfect complement crop to sugarcane because the identified uplands have not been planted at all with sugarcane, so now people will start earning from them,” said Demafelis.
   At an estimated 50 per MT of stalk yield plus three MT of grain yield per hectare per cropping, this will give farmers an estimated additional P60,000- 80,000 net earnings per year.
   There is a need to introduce an alternative feedstock to sugarcane for ethanol production due to the erratic changes in the price of sugar, consequently sugarcane.
   “We're mainstreaming sweet sorghum for bioethanol," Eleazar.  "The commercial plantation in Negros will stabilize feed supply for the plant.  We're trying to do this because the price of sugar in the market is very volatile, and we need to help produce the feedstock.”
   Because of the high price of sugar in the world market before, farmers in northern Negros would rather sell their cane for sugar production rather than for ethanol, said Demafelis. Cane price for sugar production had reached as high as P2,200 per metric ton (MT), while an ethanol distillery can only offer P1,550 per MT. 
   A sweet sorghum business summit was conducted last June in Bacolod to link various bioethanol stakeholders for potential financing from Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank and Philippine National Bank .
   With sweet sorghum ethanol, the Philippines may be able to become competitive with imported ethanol whose price was reported before to have reached P38 per liter from Brazil, although price has hit a lower P32 to P32 per liter and even a low of P23 few years back.
   At present, the country has 69 million liters per year (MLPY) of plant ethanol combined capacities which is fed by sugarcane-based material (syrup or molasses) by 100 percent. 
   It includes 30 MLPY each from SCBI Inc. and Roxol Bioenergy Corp. (RBC), both in Negros Occidental, and Leyte Agro-Industrial Corp. has a nine MLPY plant in Leyte.
   Sweet sorghum is considered to be an ideal ethanol feedstock since it is more resilient to drought.  Growing it requires less water compared to sugarcane. It needs lower fertilizer requirement and has a shorter crop cycle of 110 to 115 days enabling planting of two to three times a year compared to sugarcane's once a year.  It is a multi-purpose crop as stalk and grains are used for ethanol, and the grains may be used as livestock feed material. 
   It is used to produce syrup for sweetening, vinegar, wine, and other food products.
   The Philippines just implemented on August 6 a 10 percent mandated mix of bioethanol with gasoline for selected octane levels. 
   This sends the country's total ethanol requirement to approximately 400 million liters per year. The ethanol demand in the country is estimated to be 645 million liters in 2015 if a 15 percent ethanol-gas mix will be mandated as per a study of Japan International Cooperation Agency.  This will displace the projected 645 million liters of petroleum-based fuel by 2015.
   Foreign exchange savings was placed at $218.203 million in 2010.  This is predicted to rise to $789.3 million in 2015 and $1.274 billlion in  in 2020.  Given this demand, bioethanol has the potential to generate jobs totalling to 179,386 by 2015 and 289,611 by 2020.
   SCBI distillery has been on a shutdown due to the high sugarcane cost.  During this next milling season, SCBI has decided to use a cheaper raw material, molasses, for ethanol production. While use of molasses results in lower ethanol capacity utilization due to impurities as evident in molasses's dark color, it only costs about P1,200 per MT at present.  Molasses is a by-product in the production of sugar crystals.
   With this, SCBI is splitting its distillery operation into two.  Half of the facility will be for juice extraction and syrup production and the other half for fermentation and distillery.
   Aside from PNOC-AFC potential entry into sweet sorghum production , two other companies have been engaged in a comprehensive research on sweet sorghum for ethanol.   
   Fuel Inc., an affiliate of gas distributor Seaoil, has engaged in a 16,000 square meter field trial area in Negros Occidental.  Its sweet sorghum yield has hit a high range of 46 to 84 MT per hectare. The company earlier acquired a 36-hectare area in Negros to establish an ethanol plant.
   Moreover, Lucio Tan's Negros Biochem Corp (NBC) has a 848 square meter field trial area that has observed a yield of 49 MT per hectare.
   At present negotiation is being made for a Negros Occidental LGU and cooperative to conduct collaborative commercial plantation of a 50-hectare sweet sorghum planting for both production and processing technology demonstration purposes.
   Massive propagation of sweet sorghum and other ethanol feedstock crops aligns with government's aim to help reverse the predicted adverse effect of  climate change.  Sweet sorghum is estimated to reduce carbon emission reduction by 2,906 MT in 2015 which will further rise to 4,692 MT by 2020.
   Even if all immediate programmed ethanol plant construction in the country will have been realized, this will still be less than 50 percent of the estimated total annual requirement of 400 million liters.
   The projected total capacity of bioethanol plants mid of next year will be only 103 million MLPY consisting of 30 million liters each for SCBI, Roxol Bioenergy Corp.; 54 MLPY, Green Futures Innovation Inc.; and nine million MLPY, Leyte Agro Industrial Corp.
   Other alternative materials being considered feedstock for ethanol are cassava and corn; cellulosic materials, grasses, agricultural waste material, forest waste, and residues; and macro algae.
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For any inquiries, Pls. Call Prof. Demafelis, 0919-265-1816

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